Rowing mechanism



Patented @et l, i924.,

maar

SUNKER ABAJI BISEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ROWING MECHANISM.

Application led February 25, 1920. Serial No. 361,154.

T all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, SUNKER ABAJi Brsnr,

a. subject of the `King of Great Britain, and

a resident of New York city, county and State of New York, .haveinvented certain new and useful `ln'iprovenients in Rowing Mechanism, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to the propulsion of small boats and theobjects of the invention are to combine in a single, practical andsimple structure the eflicient features of a propeller or paddle wheeldrive and the advantages of the exercise usually afforded by rowing.

Another object is to enable the operator to face forward and to easilycontrol the boat at will.

rlhe invention involves a number of novel features of construction,combinations and arrangements of parts, all of which will appear in thecourse of the following specilica tion.

The drawing accompanying and forming a part hereof illustrates theinvention em` bodied in but two of its practical forms, but it will beunderstood that modications may be made without departure from the. truespirit and scope of the invention as 30 defined herein.

ln the drawing Figure l is a top plan view of a boat equipped with myimproved rowing mechanism.

Figure 2 is a broken side elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional View on substantially the plane ofline 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional View and Figure 5 is a brokenlongitudinal sectional view of a modilied paddle wheel construe tion.

The mechanism is illustrated as applied to a boat 7 having athwartshipseats 8, the forward one of which is to be occupied by the operator.

ln the first construction illustrated the boat is driven by a propelleror propelling wheel 9 carried by a longitudinal shaft l0.

The rowing mechanism consists in the illustration of a swinging fork oryoke 11 pivotally supported on the transverse shaft 12 and carrying atits upper end the reversely facing handles 13. rThis oscillating handlemechanism is connected with the propeller shaft by suitable gearing, thesame being herein shown as comprising a pawl la pivoted betweenthe sidesof the fork and engaging a ratchet wheel 15 fast on the transverseshaft, said transverse shaft carrying a mitre gear 16 in mesh with amitre pinion 17 on the propeller shaft. The propeller shaft may carry afiy'wlieel 18 for maintaining the propelling operation as nearlycontinuous as possible.

The rowing operation is simulated by causing the handles to yield and tomove laterally in the same fashion as the handles of the oars inordinary rowing. For this purpose the handles are shown as provided withshank portions 19 pivoted at 20 at opposite sides of the upper endportion of the yoke and as yieldingly forced apart by the spring V2l.The approaching and separating movements of the handles ,may be limitedby properly positioned stops, such as indicated at 22 and 23. The pivots2O are arrange-d as indicated so as to permit the handles to yield onlyin a lateral direction.

ln using this construotiol'i the operator faces forward and propels theboat by a simple rowing movement, the handles having a tendency tospread on the forward stroke and to contract or come together on therearward power-applying movement. @n the forward or idle stroke thepressure on the handles is relatively light and the spring 2l is ofsufficient force to thrust the handles apart so that at the commencement of the rearward or active stroke the handles are in their spreadapart relation (Figure 3) but come together, as in Figure l, due to thestra-ight line pull being applied. This, therefore, gives all thehealthful exercise ordinarily found in rowing, but without thedisadvantages ordinarily accompanying such exercise. The boat can beheld under proper control at all times and be driven faster or slower asdesired.

Steering may be accomplished by means of a foot bar 24 pivoted at 25 andconnected by tiller ropes 2G with the rudder.

In order that the operator may reverse the boat at will, l prefer tomake the oneway drive connection reversible as by pivoting the pawl at27 so that it may be swung to face in either direction and by providingthe ratchet wheel with teeth which will be effectively engaged by thepawl in either relation. The pawl may be provided with a handle such asindicated at 28 so that it may be qnickly swung over 'from one positionto the other when manipulating the boat in close quarters.

The propelling may be accomplished by means of a propelling or paddlewheel which is indicated at 30 in Figures 4 and 5 in which event thepaddle wheel might be carried by a shaft 3l and might operate withinwell 32 provided in the bottom ot the boat, theV paddle wheel shaftbeing directly connected. by gears 33, 36, with the ratchet shaft 34. Inthis construction I have shown two ratchets 35 disposed at oppositesides of the drive gear. 36 and arranged to be engaged by two pawls orthe two tongues of a single pawl 37 mounted on the fork and arranged tostraddle the drive gear, such construction giving a balanced drive.

Theinvention, it will be seen, is simple and can be readily applied andgives' the full effectiveness of a wheel drive with all he beneiicialand usually more or less leisurely exercise afforded by rowing.

What I claim is:

1. Rowing` mechanism for boats comprising in combination with apropelling wheel and a ratchet wheel geared thereto, a swinging yoke, apa-wl carried by said yoke and engaging the ratchet wheel, handlesmounted onA saidyoke and yieldable laterally in simulation of the.spreading movement of a pair of oars, said handles having shank rowinghandles into rotary movement at the propelling wheel a-nd means forthrustlng Jrhe U ing said handles awa-y from each other dursaid handlesapart in the stroke of the handles in one direction. Y Y

3. Rowing mechanism Jfor boats comprising in combination, a propellingwheel, rowing handles pivoted to swing longitudinally ol the boat, drivegearing for transforming the oscillatory movement of the rowing handlesinto rotary movement at the propelling wheel, said handles beingseparable in simulation of the spreading movement of a pair of oars andstops for limiting the sepa-rating and approaching movements of thehandles; j

Rowing mechanism for boats comprising` a shaft and means for supportingthe saine transversely of the boat, a ratchet Yon from each other. aspring :tor yieldingly vforcing said `handles apart, a propelling wheeland gearing from the ratchet wheel to the propelling wheel.

5. Rowing mechanism `for boats comprising in combination, a propellingwheel,row ing handles mounted to operate longitudinally o't the boat,drive gearing for transforming. the back and forth movement ot' thepropelling wheel and. means for 'orcing the stroke of both handles inthe same direction.

t3. Rowing mechanism comprising aA rowing handles into rotary movementatV SUNKER ABAJI BISEYY.. I

